In the golden days of hymns we sang, “We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go.”
Then in the early days of choruses we sang, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”
Yet many who sang those words with heart, soul and voice seem to have changed their minds. And direction.
Why? They became scared.
Some loud and frightful voices started telling them that their sense of security was being threatened. That people unlike them were trying to take their places.
They saw equality being extended to those who didn’t look, think, believe and love in the same ways they find comfortable.
It was time to go on the offensive with no regard for the calling and footsteps of Jesus. Not that such would ever be admitted.
Instead, they align with those who misleadingly redefine “Christian” and “biblical” to allow for attitudes and actions at odds with how Jesus calls his followers to live.
It is a way to embrace a religious-political ideology of untruth, exclusion and hostility — all while still proudly claiming the “Christian” moniker. There are plenty of historical models for this destructive approach just in the brief history of the U.S.
The 1871 hymn from which my opening line comes is “Footsteps of Jesus” by Mary B. Slade. It begins, “Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, ‘Come, follow me.’”
The Gospel writers don’t describe Jesus’ calling as particularly sweet, but rather sacrificial. Self-denial is among the first steps.
The “footprints of Jesus,” the refrain oddly notes, “make the pathway glow.” I’m guessing the sandal-wearing human form of God more likely just stirred up dust.
But the right commitment is given voice, “We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go” — “helping the weak … in homes of the poor and lowly.”
Where those feet took Jesus — and not just the walk to Calvary —reveals God to humanity and sets the example for all who would follow.
He walked right up to the outcast, the weak, the downtrodden and offered help and hope.
He walked right up to the religious elite and called them out for their arrogance, abuse and unrighteousness.
He walked right up to everyday people and called them to throw down what they were doing, believe the good news, and follow him in extending grace and mercy beyond social barriers.
Even if it cost them their lives.
Yet so many who have sung and promised to remain faithful, now find the path of Jesus’ radically-inclusive love and generous redemption unattractive.
Instead they are drawn to flashy and fear-driven promises of power, exclusivism and the delights of harming the most vulnerable.
Many Americanized Christians today now march to the tune of political promises that value control over compassion, corruption over integrity, discrimination over equality and condemnation over love.
They make every grotesque attempt to justify even the most unlike-Jesus behavior as “biblical” — as if a highly-flexible interpretation of the Bible is the object of faith rather than God revealed in Jesus.
Jesus is a weakling to them, and of no interest beyond the cross and tomb they believe provide a transactional get-out-of-hell-free card.
The pathway of Jesus — with its ongoing call to “Follow me” — has apparently grown quite dim. For many who profess to be Christian, they’ve found what appears to be a better deal.
No turning back, no turning back?
Hardly.
John D. Pierce is director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative (jesusworldview.org), part of Belmont University’s Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership.